Bottle-seal.



B. F. COLBY.

BOTTLE SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.4,1913.

1,117,792. Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

Zfifiwsseg; lnw nlb r, 177M I BenjaminF Colby;

BENJAMIN F. COLBY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOTTLE-SEAL.

Application filed January 4. 1913.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. COLBY, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county ofSufiolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Bottle-Seals, of which the following is a fulland exact description.

The object of this invention is the construction of improved means forsealing or closing bottles, in order to insure more perfect sealing sothat there shall be practically no possibility of leakage; and,secondly, to provide a seal which can be applied by hand and without thenecessity for machinery or appliance of any kind. To this end, I havedevised the construction hereinafter set forth and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a central vertical sectionof the upper part of a bottle and of my seal applied thereto. Fig. 2shows the bottle in side elevation. Fig. 3 is a section of the sealalone. Fig. & is a similar section of the shell of the seal, showing thesame without the sealing fibrous material. Fig. 5 is a similar sectionof a modification of the bottle seal.

The externalsurface 1 of the bottle mouth is preferably made somewhatconical, with a head 2 projecting from approximately half-way down thelength of said surface. This head is preferably half-round, but I do notrestrict myself to such shape, as it may be triangular in cross section.as illustrated in Fig. 5.

The shell for the seal comprises a top 3 preferably convex, and a skirt4 made tapering substantially like said surface 1, but of largerdiameter. About said skirt is a bead 5 preferably half-round, presentingits concave face to the said head 2. A disk 6 composed of wood fiber isinserted in the shell in contact with the top 3, and a ring 7 of fiberis fitted within the concavity of the bead 5, as shown in Fig. 3. Saidfiber disk and ring needjo be quite yielding in composition, while atthe same time as impervious as possible to the passage of liquids andair, in order preferably to perform their sealing function.

In applying this seal to the bottle, the former is laced over thebottle-mouth with the edge of the skirt 4 supported by the head 2. Then,by means of a blow or heavy pressure upon the top 3, said edge is drivenpast Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

Serial No. 740.159.

said head and thence down until the rim of the bottle-mouth is forced aslight distance into the yielding disk (3 and saidbead reaches the heador annular recess 5. The thin shell or skirt 4 having been expanded bythe passage of the head 2, now instantly contracts and forces said headinto the fiber rin 7. Such engagement of the head 2 and ber ring 7serves two most important purposes, one being to lock the seal or cap inplace, and the other being to more perfectly insure the sealing. Inother words, this provides a double seal,that given by the close contactbetween the rim of the bottle-mouth and the disk 6, and the one given bythe engagement of the head 2 and the ring 7, while between said sealingsis an air space 8. Con sequently, should there be any leakage of thebottles contents past the disk, it will be intercepted by the secondseal and retained in said air-space. Indeed, even without the disk 6 thebottle would be sealed with unusual tightness. for the reason that theresilient grip of the ring and bead is stronger and more enduring thancan be made to persist between the bottle-rim and the disk 6. Said disknot being composed of resilient material, except to an exceedinglylimited extent, after a time the pressure between the disk and rimbecomes zero, although said parts may still be in contact, and any extragaseous expansion within the bottle will force more or less of itsliquid contents out past such slight barrier. \Vith the continuousresilient grip-of the skirts pressure of the ring against the bead, andwith no possibility of let-up, the condition is far otherwise. The ringis too resistant ever to wholly yield to the indenting effect of thebead 2, so that there remains indefinitely a resilient pressure of thesealing ring against said head, and consequently a never-failing sealingaction.

By having the top 3 convex as shown, the downward pressure thereonapplied for the purpose of driving the annular recess 5 into engagementwith the head 2, acts to flatten the convexity and thereby to expand thetops periphery. Such expansion tends to expand the skirt, and so to aidin forcing engagement with the bead 2.

It is not necessary to have the skirt and the annular recess unbroken incircular contour, since even if vertically fluted the sealing ring willbe held in place and forced to exercise its scaling function, while suchfluting will permit the skirt to be expanded more easily by the blowupon the seal-top.

For unsealing the bottle, a knife or screw driver can be forced upbetween the skirt and bottle sufiiciently to dislodge and tear the shelltherefrom.

It should be noted that the disk 6 being flat, while the top or crown 3is convex, there is thereby formed an air space, which, when the crownis struck for forcing the seal in place, composes an air-cushion actingto prevent the collapse of said top.

Although I have thus tar described the seal as tapered, and have soshown it in Figs. 1 to l, I do not restrict myself to such shape,inasmuch as it may be substantially cylindrical, with its mouthbell-shaped, as illustrated in Fig. 5; the bell-mouth enabling it morereadily to pass the bead 2 when being applied to the bottle.

The reason why I prefer to do away with cork for the sealing members 6and 7 is that said material can'never be depended upon for absolutelyinsuring an air-tight closure. It is not only cellular in structure, butin thin layers is liable to be porous. go well is 1,111 area this knownamong bottlers that they expect to lose two per cent. of their bottledgoods on this account. By using a fibrous material suitably treated torender it nonporous, while preserving its yieldingnature, l1 are enabledto provide a bottle seal in which the proportion of loss is reducedpractically to nothing.

What I claim as my invention and for which ll desire Letters Patent isas follows, to wit:

The combination with a bottle having a bead near its mouth, of a sealtherefor comprising a shell having an annular recess and a convex top, asealing ring of yielding material located in said recess, and a flatsealing disk beneath said convex top, said head being adapted to beembedded in-said sealing ring simultaneously with the engage ment of thebottle mouth with said disk.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, 1 have hereunto setmy hand this 2nd day of January, 1913.

BENJAMIN F. COLBY.

Witnesses:

A. B. ljPHAM, Josnrn W. Downs.

